Voices at NYU Law
Throughout the academic year, a broad spectrum of events at NYU Law convenes thought leaders to discuss current legal issues and their implications nationally and globally. This past year, the Law School welcomed US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, National Cyber Director Chris Inglis, and many more leading experts.
Sonia Sotomayor
“We are far from the times when Supreme Court nominees would receive nearly unanimous approval, even in divided Congresses. And the more partisan the voting becomes, the less belief that the public is likely to have that Congress is making a merits-based or qualifications-based assessment of judicial nominees.”
In the inaugural lecture of the Robert A. Katzmann Annual Symposium Series, US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned of unprecedented threats to judicial independence. Read more about the Katzmann Symposium.
Rob Bonta
“Low-income communities and communities of color are feeling the impact of this [climate] crisis today; they’re hit first and they’re hit worst.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta discussed the social effects of climate change at a panel discussion hosted by NYU Law’s State Energy & Environmental Impact Center. Read more about the panel discussion.
Robert Chang
“Race is not static, it’s continuing to evolve. And in some ways, this idea or thesis of the intensification of white racial identity occurs at certain moments during history, and in a way that I think is happening now.”
At the 26th annual Derrick Bell Lecture on Race in American Society, Robert Chang, a professor of law and founding executive director of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University School of Law, argued that white American identity has changed over time in ways that stifle new efforts for minority groups to achieve equity. Read more about the Bell Lecture.
Jane Kelly
“We have to decide whether this step of moving from the atomized condition into a collective position is one that we see some value in.”
At the 53rd James Madison Lecture, Judge Jane Kelly of the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit argued for reexamining how prior convictions affect federal criminal sentencing. Read more about the Madison Lecture.
Adam Schiff
“The problem is if our representatives don’t give meaning to their oath, if they don’t inform their decision-making by ideas of right and wrong, if they’re not willing to accept the truth, then none of it really works.”
US Representative Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, examined the high-stakes battle over the future of US democracy in a virtual event hosted by the Brennan Center for Justice. Read more about the Brennan Center event.
Stephanie Morales
“We’re at a time in our country where we truly need [prosecutors] who understand that we are not becoming safer as a result of mass incarceration.”
At the fourth annual Kenneth P. Thompson ’92 Lecture on Race and Criminal Justice Reform, Stephanie Morales, commonwealth’s attorney in Portsmouth, Virginia, argued that prosecutors must better comprehend the impact of their work on communities. Read more about the Thompson Lecture.
Theane Evangelis ’03
“NYU has taught us that lawyers have a moral obligation to give back and to use our law degrees for good.”
Theane Evangelis ’03, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and an NYU Law trustee, spoke about service during her honorary induction into the Order of the Coif. Read more about the Order of the Coif induction ceremony.
Chris Inglis
“I don’t see so much Big Tech as…something that is having a malign influence but rather as a leverage point, as a resource, that if it were to focus on the societal great goods, it could deliver at scale things that can’t be done by any other kind of similarly postured mechanism within our society.”
During a conversation hosted by the NYU Center for Cybersecurity, US National Cyber Director Chris Inglis discussed risks associated with Big Tech. Read more about the conversation.
Aimee Allison
“For millions of us Black women, we finally have an opportunity to see ourselves reflected in the highest court in the land .”
Aimee Allison, founder and president of She the People, discussed Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court at an NYU Law event. Read more about the panel discussion.
Photo credits: Getty Images/Bloomberg (Sotomayor); Getty Images/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News (Bonta); Seattle University School of Law (Chang); United States House of Representatives Office of Photography (Schiff); ALM Global Properties/Diego Radzinschi (Kelly); Getty Images/Kevin Dietsch (Inglis)
Posted September 8, 2022
Dan Baer
“I think it’s probably not an exaggeration to say that we are living through the most consequential week in European security since maybe the fall of the Berlin Wall, and maybe before.”
On February 24, the day that Russia invaded Ukraine, Dan Baer, former US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, discussed the implications at an NYU Law Forum, a series sponsored by Latham & Watkins. Read more about the Forum discussion.